On Thursday, all eyes were on the world's No. 1 player, as he competed at the Augusta National Golf Club in his first major since reconstructive knee surgery last June.

Woods was on pace to break a 70 for the first time on opening day at the Masters Tournament, but let it get away.

He bogeyed the final hole to post a 2-under-par 70. He is in a tie for 20th place with seven other golfers, five strokes behind first-round leader Chad Campbell.

Woods' approach on the 18th went past the green and about three rows into a crowd of patrons. He missed the par putt.

"It's unbelieveable," Woods said of the 18th. "I hit just a little 8-iron and it flew a long way. It flew 155 (yards) uphill. It was a long way, I thought, to hit a little three-quarter 8-iron. It is what it is. I hit a good shot and it ended up in a bad spot."

It's been four years since Woods won his last Masters Tournament when he defeated Chris DiMarco with a birdie on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. His inability to break 70 on the first day doesn't concern him.

"I won it four times, too," he quipped.

He has put on the green jacket in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, including three times while shooting a 70 in the first round.

"It's a long week," he said. The weather is going to start changing a little bit here. You've just got to keep patient and stay with it. It's not like I haven't been in this position before. I've got to hang in there and take care of the back nine."

Woods parred 12 holes, including the first five. He bogeyed Nos. 6 and 18 and birdied four holes - three of which were on the back nine.

Starting in the second-to-last pairing allowed Woods to see how his competitors were doing ahead of him. He saw that many players had birdies on the back nine.

"I knew it could be had with good shots," he said. "Basically, I was in position to shoot 4-under par and just didn't get it done."

As the day went on, Woods was surprised to look up at the scoreboard and see plenty of scores in the red, as low as eight and nine under at some points.

"I didn't expect it to be that low," he said. "When we went to the golf course, we thought probably 5 (under par) would be leading by the end of the day. Again, the greens are fast, but they're soft. That's a combo we didn't really find out here very often."

Several players commented on how the course played well Thursday. Woods' opinion was no different.

"This day was reminiscent to how it used to be. You can go out there on the back nine and make some birdies," he said. "If you count the right gusts, I think you can shoot some pretty good numbers. The tees were up, there's no doubt. The pins were probably maybe a yard easier than they normally are."

That allowed players to be aggressive considering the conditions.

Stewart Cink and Jeev Milkha Singh, who were in Woods' grouping, finished with a 69 and 71, respectively.

"Tiger was great," Singh said. "He made me feel comfortable out there on the course. I enjoyed his company. Not only is he the best player in the world, he's a good human being."